Exam Texts - Blake, Stasiland, Frankenstein, or TB?

[VivaTequila]

Blake is poetry, cold and hard
Stasiland is 'other literature', a dynamic cross between journalism and a novel
Frankenstein is just a bucket-load of themes, notions, and background author influences to discuss
Two Brothers is so superficial, the plot and characters are one-dimensional stereotypes

What would you recommend? I'm thinking Stasiland and Frankenstein because they are full-length novels and subsequently there is much to draw on? Two Brothers, on the other hand, is very simple and could be hard to draw much out of the passages because the play is so small and short. Blake would be good, because there's only so much you can be analysed on and as a result if you do one excerpt analysis for every one of the examinable poems, then you could walk into the exam prepared.

I'm thinking Stasiland and Frankenstein? Anyone have similar texts or did these texts last year and can reccomend what to do?

[simpak]

While I haven't studied any of your texts, I will give you a word of advice - choose something that you personally enjoyed reading.  And preferably, choose something for which you feel you can devise your own interpretation or take.  The most valuable observations you will make are those which make you stand out from the crowd (and of course those which are well communicated and argued, but I think that goes without saying).

Be careful choosing texts that have 'many themes' - just make sure that you don't get carried away with the themes themselves and forget to analyse the techniques.

[zb10]

Blake is poetry, cold and hard
Stasiland is 'other literature', a dynamic cross between journalism and a novel
Frankenstein is just a bucket-load of themes, notions, and background author influences to discuss
Two Brothers is so superficial, the plot and characters are one-dimensional stereotypes

What would you recommend? I'm thinking Stasiland and Frankenstein because they are full-length novels and subsequently there is much to draw on? Two Brothers, on the other hand, is very simple and could be hard to draw much out of the passages because the play is so small and short. Blake would be good, because there's only so much you can be analysed on and as a result if you do one excerpt analysis for every one of the examinable poems, then you could walk into the exam prepared.

I'm thinking Stasiland and Frankenstein? Anyone have similar texts or did these texts last year and can reccomend what to do?

I'm thinking of doing Frankenstein simply because its a book I enjoy reading and similar to what you said, the book is PACKED with things to write about, so I find it easy to write on aswell. But I've taken a look at last years passages for Frankenstein in the exam and have tried writing on those and I've got to say I struggled, so I'm hoping they won't be like that this year.

The other text I want to write on is either Blake or Lawrence's short stories. Poetry is a challenge for me, but I've been told that it is easy to find  stuff to write about so I'm considering it. And Lawrence stories are a favourite read of mine, but not so easy for me to write an essay on so I'm kinda stuck between the two.

I was considering writing on Stasiland, but I don't like the book and would be torturing myself if I tried writing on it in the exam. In saying that, I have a whole class who hates it so it's good to see people out there who are actually considering it

[VivaTequila]

That's interesting, our class really likes Stasiland.

I think I'll go with Frankenstein and Stasiland, for the simple reason that Blake is poetry and I couldn't do it justice, whilst TB is more of a backup because it's so shallow.

[LeahT]

At the moment, I'm planning on Emma and Stasiland. I didn't really enjoy reading Emma, but I find it very easy to analyse, and it's by far my best text of the year performance-wise.

It's the opposite for Stasiland for me - I loved reading and studying it, but I find it difficult to get a comprehensive analysis of it. I think it's a difficult text to analyse, simply because it is an 'other' genre, and it is non-fiction.

That being said, I really hated No Sugar which is my other option, so I'm still gunna go Stasiland. I can't/wont tell you what to pick, but there's my reasoning for what I picked

[VivaTequila]

For anyone interested I've completely ruled out Blake. Our school flunked and we didn't even do an outcome/sac on it, so to pick it is to accept death.

For me it's Frankenstein and Stasiland. I didn't mind Frankenstein, and I friggin' loved Stasiland.

Two Brothers is an absolute backup because of it's simplicity - if I just happen to have nothing on the passages in Frankenstein (e.g. a passage on the De Laceys or something whack that doesn't even pertain to the monster but rather stands for gender roles or education or something that I'm not picking up on), then I've got 2B as a backup. It's easily analysed, and the worry is that it might lead to a simplistic interpretation, but it's very easy to write on.